El-P
El-P
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El-P & Mr. Muthafuckin eXquire & Danny Brown
El-P & Killer Mike & Despot
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El-P & Nick Diamonds
El-P
“For My Upstairs Neighbor (Mums the Word),” the tenth track off of Cancer 4 Cure (2012), the fourth studio album by El-P.
The story of El-P’s maybe fictional, tacit collusion with his upstairs neighbor, a battered girlfriend who would have every reason to murder her housemate.
[Verse 1: El-P]
I'd like some water, please
This room is way too hot to be here sitting and explaining
There's no joy in repetition
Plus, you all know what I know, and that's a heaping pile of doughnut holes
I didn't even know them; I am not your perfect witness
Your team of fat blue buddies waddling around and trying to crack the case are better off locating someone else
I spent a day on my New York shit, didn't even meet them once
And no, I'm not upset—I'm just another guy minding his business
But if I had to guess, I'd say whatever happened probably had to happen anyway if "crime"'s the definition
Do your job and write it up, but find another motherfucker to harass
I'm getting tired of this redundancy rendition
Come on, you know the drill: These walls are thick
I got my own shit that I'm dealing with, I haven't seen or heard a thing; I never met 'em
That's the city— Good luck working it, Columbo!
I'ma bounce, you got my info, but you'll never get my pity, and I'm out
[Hook: El-P]
If you kill him, I won't tell
If you kill him, I won't tell
If you kill him, I won't tell
If you kill him, I won't tell
[Verse 2: El-P]
Earlier that day, after my regular alarm of tongue-as-blade
That resonated clear through thin-constructed walls
It's after my first smoke, but before I cop a paper from bodega
Bumped into you in the stairwell in our (Shit-constructed hall)
On my New York shit: It's the customary bop
Don't talk to anyone, look forward, mind yourself, continue walk
The halls are thin, and so is skin when bearing witness to the sound you're generating every day
Guess it reminded me of something
It must have taken every muscle in your body
To produce that little twitch you probably thought was passing muster for a smile
But trust, I recognize the gesture; I have seen it many times
I read the tells; I know the sacred art of bluffing
Maybe I shouldn't have, but as you passed, I stopped
And put my hand on your left arm, and we both paused; I meant no harm
And you look startled as I leaned into your ear and said the first and last thing ever to you:
"Do the thing you have to, and I swear I'll tell them nothing."
[Hook: El-P]
If you kill him, I won't tell
If you kill him, I won't tell
If you kill him, I won't tell
If you kill him, I won't tell
For My Upstairs Neighbor (Mums the Word) was written by El-P.
For My Upstairs Neighbor (Mums the Word) was produced by El-P.
El-P released For My Upstairs Neighbor (Mums the Word) on Tue May 22 2012.
One of the last songs I wrote on the album, inspired by overhearing a stream of verbal abuse coming from my upstairs neighbors. A fictional story based on that, about how a small encounter in a hallway led to murder, and how I was fine with that and refused to say shit to the cops. Happy stuff.
El-...